Facade
by BunkFace
Summary: Abruptly and tragically orphaned, Sakura is shunned by her peers due to her introversion. A lonely boy befriends her, breaking her silent shell. Before she can thank him, he has already left. Will Sakura ever get her chance?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** We don't own CCS. Clamp Does. But penguins will rule the world one day with their cute, fat bodies.

**Summary:** Abruptly and tragically orphaned, Sakura is shunned by her peers due to her introversion. A lonely boy befriends her, breaking her silent shell. Before she can thank him, he has already left. Will Sakura ever get her chance?

**Prologue**

"Do I have to go to sleep now?" Sakura whined. She was exactly five years, two months, and one day old. That was old enough to sleep later than eight o' clock.

Nadeshiko chuckled and stroked her only daughter's hair. "Maybe when you turn six you can stay up until eight thirty," she compromised.

Fujitaka passed the doorway of Sakura's bedroom, dragging a reluctant Touya by the sleeve of his pajamas. He was lecturing his oldest about playing pranks at school, "I don't care if it was a dare, and I don't care if it's your last year of middle school; you were supposed to write an essay on Japanese geography. Not turn in pictures of it."

"She assigned a two thousand word essay. A picture's worth a thousand words, isn't it? Two pictures, two thousand words," grumbled Touya.

"I thought it was funny," whispered Sakura softly to her mother as she snuggled with her beloved teddy bear. It was her first toy, given to her by her family, when she was born. When she was old enough to speak, she named it Kero because she always thought frog croaks were silly sounding. A piece of ribbon was strung about the bear's neck with a solitary, silver heart charm, engraved were the words "Forever love – Mommy, Daddy, and Touya."

"Time to sleep now, ne Sakura?" Nadeshiko kissed her on the forehead and stood up. "But you promise you'll take me to the zoo tomorrow?" reminded Sakura. Nadeshiko smiled and nodded her head and backed out of her daughter's bedroom as Sakura was drifting off to her own zoo paradise.

--

Sakura sat up straight in her bed. Something had woken her up. Someone was downstairs. 'Daddy?' she wondered. She glanced blearily at her Hello Kitty clock. Almost 2:15 AM. Glass breaking. Hushed whispering. Feet shuffling. She saw her father turn on the upstairs lights and run downstairs. A gunshot immediately rang out.

A tremor of fear passed through Sakura as she heard her mother scream and run downstairs as well. Touya ran into his little sister's bedroom. "I've called 911. Everything will be okay," he said hurriedly and was about to dash out when he saw Sakura's terrified eyes. He walked over and gave her a tight hug. "Everything will be okay. Just stay here." He tucked her in again with Kero and left, closing the door.

She could hear more screams, shouts, glass breaking and then silence. She shivered, tears welling up in her eyes. Then the piercing shriek of the ambulance and police cars broke the deathly silence downstairs. She jumped out of bed, still holding Kero, and hurried downstairs.

When the medics and police officers entered the house, they were met with the sight of two dead bodies and a screaming and sobbing five year old.

Sakura couldn't remember what happened after the medics found her. A woman took her to the police station. They were talking about her and her family. Phrases floated around that had no meaning to her. Intruders caught. All relatives deceased. Parents left no will. Can't find the brother. Orphan.

Sakura merely stood there in the confusion of paper, people and legalities, desperately holding on to Kero. After all, he was the only family she had left now.

--

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	2. Encounter

**Disclaimer:** We don't own CCS. Clamp Does. But penguins will rule the world one day with their cute, fat bodies.

**Summary: **Abruptly and tragically orphaned, Sakura is shunned by her peers due to her introversion. A lonely boy befriends her, breaking her silent shell. Before she can thank him, he has already left. Will Sakura ever get her chance?

**Chapter 1 - Encounter  
**

"Here we are, Sakura," Mrs. Hiiragizawa said as she turned the engine off. Clutching Kero in one hand and opening the door with the other, Sakura climbed out of the beat-up car and stared with wide eyes at the intimidating building looming before her. It was a dirty gray house that might have once been white with a few rusty colored marks scarring the front. A garden with dying flowers and withered leaves decorated the front lawn. The orphanage appeared to once have been a cheerful, loving place but it had grown tired and decrepit. Time was kind to no one and nothing.

Once inside the house, Sakura instantly felt like an outsider because of the other orphans' cold glares and unsmiling faces. She held Kero tighter and followed Mrs. Hiiragizawa down the dimly lit hallway.

--Two Years Later --

Sakura sat alone at the end of the table, away from the others and silently picking at her okonomiyaki. Lunch was her least favorite time of day. She didn't have many friends at the orphanage. And sitting by herself here while the children chatted happily and the teens running around laughing only caused the hole in her heart to widen. One of the newer, little children wobbly walked towards Sakura and pulled on Kero who was on the lunch bench next to Sakura. Frightened, she grabbed her beloved teddy back and hugged it close. The toddler began to bawl, startled by Sakura's abrupt action. An older teen walked over and took the child into her arms, comforting him with soothing noises. She glared at Sakura and said in clipped words, "You didn't have to be so mean." Sakura merely stared blankly back at the older girl before returning to push her food around.

The other kids didn't understand. Sakura didn't even understand it herself. Why didn't she speak, play, and interact with the other kids? She was scared. She vaguely remembered being taken to a doctor during her first year at the orphanage. The doctor had something, a really big, fancy phrase that described what was wrong with her. Psychological trauma. That was it. It sounded right. It sounded life-changing, painful beyond belief, and difficult to overcome. The memory of her mother lying still, ever so still, with blood seeping into the blue carpet, staining it purple flashed through Sakura's mind but she forced herself not to cry. She placed the heart shaped charm on her check, cradling Kero. The metal was cool against her hot skin, and calmed her. She read the phrase that she had memorized long ago, "Forever love, Mommy, Daddy, and Touya." Forever love, she thought. But now they were forever gone.

The caretakers, especially Mrs. Hiiragizawa, had been sympathetic at first. For the first month she was here, Mrs. Hiiragizawa came to her bed every night to speak to her with comforting words and encouraging her to talk, to play with the other children. But Sakura never spoke to her, how could she? She kept replaying that night over and over again in her head. Sometimes, Sakura even woke up screaming, just screaming. Rocking Kero in her arms and screaming, scaring both the younger and older children. But those nights were infrequent now. Mrs. Hiiragizawa no longer had time to comfort and encourage Sakura. The other kids avoided Sakura. Some were scared of her, some disliked her, and some just thought of her as a strange child and ignored her. However Mrs. Hiiragizawa's son Eriol understood that Sakura's reluctance to speak was not because of her selfishness, but because of past scars. Though Sakura rarely spoke to Eriol, she didn't mind him and was happy she had at least one person who smiled at her everyday.

After lunch was playtime. The orphanage was right next to a park, Penguin Park. The children always played there under the supervision of the older teens, but were always expected to come back for afternoon classes.

Sakura, however, never played with the other children. She merely sat under a cherry blossom tree and talked to Kero every time. She watched the other kids enjoy the warm sun, pushing each other on the swings, taking turns on the slides, and throwing a ball around. They seemed happy, alive, and healthy, without a care in the world. A burst of applause broke out as a teen was entertaining a bunch of little kids with a newly-bought magic set, breaking Sakura's trance. She frowned slightly, but there was a look of longing in her sad eyes. She shook the clouds of sorrow from her head and wondered if today would be any different from the days before.

--

In another part of Tomeda, a tantrum was brewing.

"I don't want to be here, and I don't want a nanny! Why couldn't I stay in Hong Kong with my sisters? Fanren, Shiefa, Fuutie, and Feimei can help me if I need anything!" Syaoran complained. Yelan smiled fondly at her only son. "Syaoran, we are only here for a week. Do your best to manage, ne? Besides, you want to be a pilot when you grow up, don't you? Didn't you enjoy your first plane ride?" she said softly.

Syaoran crossed his arms and grumbled, "Hai…" His eyes brightened at the memory and he exclaimed, "It was so cool! Everything looked so small! And I even got to shake hands with the pilot!" He turned over to his eighty year old nanny, Misaki Yoko. She smiled politely and walked over to him slowly. "Ne Syaoran, let's go to the park. It's a beautiful day, and I bet there are many other kids there that will play with you."

Syaoran sighed. His nanny was nice, but she was eight times his age. He wanted friends his own age. "Okay," he conceded, "but let me grab my glider first!"

--

"Woosh! Woosh!" said Syaoran as he ran towards the park with his toy glider. Misaki sat down on a park bench and called out, "Syaoran, I'll be sitting right here, okay?" Syaoran answered with more "woosh woosh" sounds and the nanny chuckled as she pulled a book out from her bag and began reading.

Syaoran saw that the playground was crawling with kids, from toddlers to teenagers, and more importantly, children his own age. He ran towards them but stopped, noticing a young girl holding a bear beneath a cherry blossom tree. She looked like she was talking to it. At that moment, she glanced up and saw Syaoran watching her. He frowned. Gazing back at him were the loneliest and saddest eyes he had ever seen.

--

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	3. Conversation

**Disclaimer:** We don't own CCS. Clamp Does. But Penguins will rule the world one day with their cute, fat, bodies.

**Summary:** Abruptly and tragically orphaned, Sakura is shunned by her peers due to her introversion. A lonely boy befriends her, breaking her silent shell. Before she can think him, he has already left. Will Sakura ever get her chance?

Chapter 2 – Conversation

Syaoran frowned but continued to gaze at the young girl curiously. She looked tense, as she firmly gripped her bear. The soft pink petals of the cherry blossom tree above conflicted with her gloomy expression and empty eyes. She curled herself around her stuffed animal into the fetal position putting as much distance between her and the children on the playground as much as possible. She broke the eye contact with Syaoran, sinking deeper and deeper into her isolation. A wave of inexplicable sorrow overcame Syaoran and he shivered despite the warm day.

"It makes you sad, doesn't it?" A voice spoke up from behind him. Syaoran whipped his head around to see a boy around his age with black hair. Syaoran raised a brow and wondered why he was here. The boy smiled politely and pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.

"Eriol," he introduced himself, holding out his hand formally. Syaoran shook the hand and stuttered, "S-syaoran."

"That's Sakura," Eriol pointed to the direction of the young girl sitting beneath the tree. Syaoran nodded and glanced back at the girl.

"Sa…kura?" Syaoran tried. The name sounded sweet and cheerful and vivacious, yet the girl Syaoran saw was consumed in solitary melancholy belying her name.

"She's one of the orphans from the Tomeda orphanage next door," he continued. One of the older girls playfully pinched Eriol's arm, signaling for him to come play with the others. He grinned and chased after her as she screamed delightedly while Syaoran continued staring at Sakura, thinking about what Eriol had said.

'The orphanage?' he thought. The orphanage was for kids who didn't have parents or a guardian. That could be one factor for the girl's glumness. But glancing at the playground with the many laughing children, no else had isolated herself from the group, noticed Syaoran. So why was she by herself? He wondered, trying to figure out an explanation. Filled with curiosity, he walked towards her slowly, making sure his presence was noticed. She didn't look up when he stood near her and gave no sign of acknowledgment except for a flinch as he sat down next to her. The pink dress she wore fluttered around in the gentle breeze, her auburn hair dancing around her face. Syaoran noted the honey-colored bear with the yellow ribbon around its neck, tightly wrapped in her arms. A flower-shaped charm hung from the ribbon with a few words engraved.

"Forever love, mommy, daddy, and Touya," he read aloud. Sakura cringed at his voice, hiding her face in the bear.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he extended his arm to pat her on the shoulder. She recoiled at his touch, trembling in anxiety.

Syaoran immediately retracted his arm. "I'm sorry," he said, at a loss of what to do. Her paroxysms had subsided and Sakura was rocking herself back and forth, never looking at the boy next to her.

"That's a cute bear," Syaoran said the first thing that came to mind. "I bet your parents were nice people to give you that. Is Touya your brother? You're lucky to have a brother. I only have four older sisters. And each one is a pain. Together, they're the biggest pain in the world."

Syaoran knew he was babbling but Sakura appeared calmer and a shadow of a smile was on her face thought it disappeared in an instant when she felt his eyes on her. Syaoran looked away and she closed her eyes. She continued to rock back and forth but Syaoran assumed she was still listening.

"They aren't in Tomeda right now. They're in Hong Kong, which is where I'm from. It's an awesome city. Big buildings, lots more people, and much noisier. But Tomeda's nice, too."

"Why are you here?" Sakura interrupted softly. Syaoran stopped in the middle of ramble and gaped at her, unsure if she had really spoken or if it had been his imagination. He glanced at her. She had opened her eyes and was toying with the bear, still avoiding eye contact.

"I-My mom's here on business. And I wanted to come because it would be my first time on an airplane. I want to be a pilot when I grow up. See?" replied Syaoran. He picked up his forgotten glider next to him and offered it to Sakura. She momentarily lifted her eyes from her bear to the glider and resumed her attentions to her toy.

"Ummm…do you want to play with it?" Syaoran asked politely, already knowing the answer. She gave no response or an indication she heard the offer. Syaoran tried a different angle, "Do you want to play with me?"

The question caught her attention and she lifted her head. Her eyes widened with surprise and Syaoran noticed for the first time their brilliant shade of emerald.

Sakura took the opportunity to observe this kind stranger who had spoken to her more in an afternoon than all the other orphans combined since her arrival save for Eriol.

Amber eyes, chestnut hair, and thick eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he waited for her reply.

She opened her mouth to answer when— "SYAORAN!" Called Yoko. "Time to go home."

"Argh! No! Not yet! I just made a new friend," Syaoran said. At the word "friend," Sakura glanced at Syaoran, uncertainty apparent on her face. "We are friends, aren't we?" he asked. Seconds passed as they stared at each other and Yoko walked toward them at a speed impressive for an 80-something woman. With the slightest nod of her head, Sakura immediately re-focused her attentions back to Kero. With a grin, Syaoran jumped up and said, "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he ran to meet his nanny.

Sakura looked up as she saw Syaoran waving at her and then leaving the park, oblivious that someone else was watching her as well.

Eriol, with his perpetual enigmatic smile, observed his silent friend from the other side of the playground. He had watched their entire exchange with a thoughtful expression.

"Maybe," he began.

"Maybe what?" inquired a boy next to him.

"Oh nothing, nothing," Eriol replied. "Nothing at all."


End file.
